


Dear R

by Ambreignss69



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Advice, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, American Football, Baseball, M/M, Secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2018-10-21 06:47:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10679925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambreignss69/pseuds/Ambreignss69
Summary: Roman writes an advice column at his high school and no one, including his best friend Dean, knows it's him behind the weekly newspaper advice. Dean is extremely fond of R and their advice, one day he decides to anonymously seeks advice from R about a secret he has been hiding for a long time.





	1. Chapter 1

‘ _Dear R,_

_I caught my boyfriend cheating on me with my best friend and I don’t know what to do. Please help!_

_Sincerely,_

_Heartbroken Nancy’_

 

Roman read through the letter, scanning the information as he opened his computer to start writing his response.

The letter was short and not enough detail but he did with what he got so he decided to keep things simple as well.

 

‘ _Dear Heartbroken Nancy,_

_Finding out your partner cheated on you is always a tough concept to handle, especially when it’s with someone as close as your best friend. My advice is to dump him and dump her. You don’t need those type of toxic relationships in your life._

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

 

Roman ran an anonymous advice column for his high school newspaper and most people seemed to appreciate his advice, even if they didn’t exactly know who it was. Roman was grateful the column was anonymous though, because being an advice guru didn’t exactly fit his profile.

Roman was the high school’s defensive tackle and even though everyone knew he was strictly into guys, no one would be able to picture him as ‘ _Dear R’_ from the advice column.

In all honesty, everyone assumed _R_ was a female, not that Roman blamed them because when you think of someone giving weekly advice it’s usually not a football player.

 

_‘Dear R,_

_I’ve been trying to get with this girl for a while now but no matter what I do she just won’t budge. How do I get her to have sex with me?_

_Sincerely,_

_Hard and Horny’_

 

Roman chuckled out loud at letters like that one, not that he didn’t before but after working the advice column for two years he learned to sympathize with women for the skeevy guys that they had to deal with.

 

‘ _Dear Hard and Horny,_

_I’m appalled by the type of boy you are. Yes, boy. A man would never ask something like this. My advice is if you like her then wait until she is ready but if you are only using her for sex, tell her your true intentions. I’m sure she will be more than willing to walk away from someone like you._

_P.S._

_The internet has a wide range of sources to help you out with your sex life_

_Yours truly,_

_R’_

 

The rest of the night consisted of reading and writing the column and by the time Roman finished and sent the responses to the editor of the school newspaper, it was getting late and he had practice the next day.

On Monday morning, he arrived to school to see that the newspaper had already been printed out and set out in their racks. Roman headed to his locker to see Dean leaning up against it, reading the advice column as he grinned at the page in front of him.

“What’s so funny?” Roman asked, opening his locker to take out his English book.

“This girl _Dear R,_ cracks me up. Listen to this, someone wrote to her saying,’ _you’re column is stupid and you suck at advice’_ and she responded with ‘thank you for the input now please pay attention in English class to distinguish the difference between _you’re_ and _your’_ ” Dean had read chuckling through it.

“Maybe the newspaper shouldn’t have a _contribution to our advice column page_ it’s a waste of ink if you ask me” Roman replied with a grin.

“What are you talking about dude? I love her advice but her response to the hate comments are the best. I’m telling you man, I think I’m in love” Dean said, ripping out the page and folding it to put it in his back pocket.

“If you say so man” Roman replied, closing his locker as he and Dean headed to their first class.

“Seriously though, who do you think _R_ is?” Dean asked.

Roman set his book on the desk, watching Dean scan the room trying to figure out who _R_ could be. Sometimes, Roman felt bad for not telling his best friend he was _R_ but he tried to convince himself it was for the best.

Dean wasn’t a judgmental person, in fact he was very supportive when Roman came out of the closet, but Roman didn’t think Dean would be too happy to find out that the so-called love of his life was his best friend.

At one point, Roman did think about telling Dean he was _R_ but then Dean started to joke around by saying he was in love with _R_ and Roman didn’t think it would be a good idea to expose himself.

Roman shrugged his shoulders, stretching his arms over his head, trying to relax the knots on his shoulders.

 “You get any sleep last night?” Dean asked, noticing Roman’s soft moan when he stretched his arms.

“Yeah, practice was just tough yesterday.”

“I don’t doubt it. Coach is probably working you guys out like crazy now that football season started” Dean replied, rubbing Roman’s shoulder with his thumb.

Roman stopped himself from letting out another soft moan, only nodding at Dean before he opened his text book when their teacher walked in.

The class lecture went as expected and when the bell rang, Roman told Dean he would meet up with him at the cafeteria later.

Dean headed over to the gym, grabbing his workout clothes from the locker room to start changing before he felt someone take the newspaper from his back pocket.

“I still can’t believe you read this shit” Seth said from behind Dean.

Dean took the newspaper back, putting it in his jean pocket again, “it’s a guilty pleasure.”

“ _Dear R_ is probably an ugly chick that sits behind her computer pretending she matters” Seth replied bitterly.

Dean laughed before saying, “you’re only mad because she called you out on your shit that one time.”

“Whatever.”

Dean chuckled again, changing his clothes before heading out of the locker room to meet up with the rest of the baseball team for their daily workout.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Going to update Wyatt Falls in the next few days)

Roman walked into the cafeteria to see most of his peers reading the advice column. It was pretty much the same thing each week so it didn’t surprise Roman that most people were talking about it.

He sat next to Dean at the lunch table hearing Finn start to read one of the columns from the school newspaper.

“Alright check this out-” Finn said.

 

‘ _Dear R,_

_I think I failed my Biology exam… How do I tell my parents? They expect me to get straight A’s in school and I finally took a risk and went out to a party instead of studying and now I’m worried. Please help._

_Sincerely,_

_Not So Nerdy Nerd’_

 

“And then R responded with-”

 

‘ _Dear Not So Nerdy Nerd,_

_The Biology exam scores don’t come out for another week, there’s not a lot you can do right now. Don’t stress. My advice is to wait for the scores and if you didn’t do so hot talk to your teacher and see if you can do some extra credit. And on the note for your parents, well, they have the best intentions for you but take a leap and talk to your parents about how you feel about their expectations. You never know, they might not know how stressful things are for you._

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

 

Finn let out a laugh, “borrrrriiiinnnnggg. I liked R the way she was before. When she was a bitch-”

“She wasn’t a bitch” Dean quickly came to R’s defense.

“Here we go” Seth sarcastically said, rolling his eyes.

“What? She wasn’t. Just because she didn’t sugar coat things doesn’t mean R was a bitch” Dean added.  

“Well, whatever. I liked her better when she didn’t sugar coat things” Finn said, air quoting ‘sugar coat’.

Roman sat back, eating his lunch, just hearing his friends talk about the advice column but he never inputted. _Dear R_ was a common topic at their table, believe it or not.

“You guys do know why she changed her tone with people, don’t you?” Baron added from the end of the table.

“Policy at school or something, probably” Finn guessed.

“No” Baron replied, getting up from where he was seated to sit in an empty spot across from Roman.

“Why then?” Seth asked.

“Remember a few months before the end of the school year last year when someone wrote to R and asked for advice about a pregnancy scare?” Baron began.

The group of boys at the table nodded as Roman listened on to see what Baron was going to say.

“Well, remember what R had said? This was the first time she was actually giving advice and not just judging people.”

“Yeah, something about being honest with her parents, right?” Dean said.

“Yup. And then did you hear what happened after?” Baron asked.

The boys at the table shook their head, all leaning closer like they were about to get juicy details like teenage girls.

“Well, when she found out she was pregnant she took R’s advice. She told her parents but her parents weren’t supportive like R had said. Turns out they kicked her out of the house and she ended up killing herself” Baron said.

“What? That’s not true” Dean replied, tossing his body back from the table like someone had just spit in his face.

“There’s a suicide letter she wrote to R before she hung herself” Baron explained.

“Where is it then?” Finn asked.

“Cops took it.”

“Bullshit”

Before anyone could say anything else, the lunch bell rang signaling that lunch was over. Roman grabbed his tray, tossing it in the trash and walked off before anyone stopped him to talk to him. He stopped by his locker to grab his Anatomy textbook for his next class. By the time he took a seat, the teacher had already started assigning everyone their term-paper topic.

“Roman-” his teacher said.

“Yes?” Roman replied.

“Miss Lane would like you to visit her office after class”

“Okay, thank you.”  

Roman jotted down a few of his term paper ideas and looked through his email as the rest of the class conversed between themselves.

Roman opened an email whose subject read, ‘ _Editor Notes’_

‘ _Good afternoon R,_

_I wanted to congratulate you on another successful release of advice columns. I’ll have the next set of letters by Wednesday._

_Keep up the good work,_

_Shay’_

 

When the end of class bell rang, Roman headed to Miss Lane’s office and looked up at the platter on her door that read, ‘ _Kassandra Lane: School Counselor’_

Roman took a deep breath and as soon as he knocked he heard Miss Lane say, “come in.”

“You wanted to see me?” Roman asked, closing the door behind him.

“Yes. Please sit down Roman” Miss Lane asked.

Roman looked at her, then nodded his head once before taking a seat across from her desk, setting his backpack on the floor next to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I need to update Wyatt Falls- also finals had me busy but I'm finally done so here's another chapter. Enjoy.)

“I read the advice column today. Very solid work Roman.” Miss Lane complimented.

“Oh, thank you. I’m actually just concerned with some of the negative feedback the overall newspaper has been getting- is there anything I can do to help?” Roman asked sincerely.

“I appreciate your dedication. I know when I first purposed the idea you weren’t too fond of it-” Miss Lane added.

“Well, you didn’t exactly purpose it. It was more of a take it or get suspended type of deal” Roman said with a little sarcasm.

Miss Lane gave Roman a nod, “yes, well- your infraction was highly severe. If Coach Noah hadn’t come talk to me, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, I know I was hesitant about the idea of having to write this column but after Too Young to be a Mother wrote asking for advice I realized that I have to take this column seriously” Roman said honestly.

“Too Young to be a Mother really opened a lot of eyes around here.”

There was a moment of silence, Roman and Miss Lane looked at one another for a moment and then Roman repeated, “so is there anything I can do?”

“Well, the newspaper needs diversity, if the students knew that you, a football player, were writing the advice column then maybe-”

“No, I’m sorry Miss Lane, but no. I agreed to do this under the condition that no one would know who I was, and it was strictly a need to know bases.” Roman quickly said.

Miss Lane gave Roman a single nod, “I understand.”

The in between period bell rang and Roman grabbed his backpack off the floor, “I have to go. I’ll be late to my next class.”

“Okay, just please think about it.”

Roman nodded, giving her a reassurance that he would at least think about it, but he was dead set on not telling anyone. Ever. He could get through the rest of the school year without anyone exposing him for being the face behind Dear R.

Dean was turning the corner when he saw Roman leaving the counselor’s office.

“Ro!” Dean shouted, getting his best friend to turn back to face him.

“Oh hey uce” Roman greeted, a little shaken.

“Did you just come out of Lane’s office?” Dean asked with concern.

“Uh, yeah. She just wanted to talk about my grades-” Roman lied.

Dean eyed Roman, watching the way his shoulders slouched a little. Dean knew Roman was lying but he had no idea why. He decided he wasn’t going to ask… at least not yet.

“She busting your balls” Dean joked instead.

“Yeah, says I have to pick em’ up or she’s gonna talk to Coach and he isn’t going to like that.”

“Coach is a dick, man. He was pissing at me earlier because my cap was on backwards” Dean added, as they walked to their last class.

Roman grinned, shaking his head at his best friend.

After their boring lecture, the bell rang for the end of another school day. “Wanna come over to my house?”

“Yeah, my old man is probably home already and I don’t feel like dealing with his drunk ass right now. Plus, I’m hungry and your mom always has food ready” Dean said, taking Roman’s letterman jacket from his arm to put it on when a slight breeze hit them as they headed to the parking lot.

“She loves having you over, the food is always cleaned off the pans when you come over” Roman joked, unlocking his car to get in.

“What can I say? She’s a good cook.”

By the time they got to Roman’s house, Dean had thought of a million reasons why Roman had lied about being in the counselor’s office earlier.

“Hey uce-” Dean began, when Roman nodded- Dean continued, “you know I’m here if you need to talk right?”

Roman looked over to Dean before opening the front door of his house, “yeah man. I know that.”

“Alright, just checking. You aren’t getting any shit from anyone anymore, right?”

“Nah bro-” Roman stopped to look at Dean, “what’s with all the questions. Are you okay?”

Dean smiled, “yeah. I’m good.”

“Okay, good. Now let’s get something to eat, I’m starving.”

Dean and Roman took their plates to Roman’s bedroom, playing XBOX and taking a bite of their food in between their games.

“Alright, if we get through this we open up another level. Just watch my back while I go into this cave” Roman explained, watching Dean reload his weapon.

Roman grabbed the extra ammo in the cave which allowed them to make their way through the other teams that were hidden behind trees.

“Yes! Fuck yeah, dude.” Dean shouted as they unlocked the next level, the same one they had tried to open for the last few weeks.

Roman put his arm over Dean’s shoulders, shaking his dirty blonde locks and when Roman let go, Dean kissed Roman’s head, going back to eating his food after.

Dean often kissed Roman’s head for no reason but it always made Roman get a warm feeling through his body. Of course, he played it off like nothing and continued with the game.

The clock quickly hit nine and Dean was grabbing his backpack off the ground when Roman’s mom was hollering from the kitchen that his mother had called and asked him to head home.

“Alright uce, I’ll see you tomorrow” Roman said, taking in his best friend for a hug.

“How do you always smell so good?” Dean let out and played it off as a joke when Roman raised an eyebrow at him.

“I shower” Roman laughed, patting Dean on the chest.

“Oh ha ha, very funny. Whatever, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dean left the Reigns house mentally hating himself for what he had said. The walk home wasn’t long, they lived a few streets away from one another but Dean had a lot running through his mind, specifically why Roman was in the counselor’s office.

High school was a cruel place and even though Dean was more than supportive when his best friend came out to him, some of the other students were not. Especially the douchebags on the soccer team. Things were tough for a while and the last thing Dean wanted was for Roman to feel like he was alone.

‘ _Dear R-_ ’ Dean wrote.

‘ _I think my best friend is hiding something from me. That’s my boy and I’m worried about him. I can’t exactly ask him why he’s lying- he’s been through a lot and I don’t want him to think I’m attacking him. I’ve never sought out advice but I read your columns every week and you’re good with words. I don’t know, I just need him to know that I’m here for him. Anything you got would help._

_Sincerely,_

_Worried Bro’_

Dean re-read it repeatedly, until he took a deep breath and hit send. Now, all he had to do was wait and watch Roman closely, to make sure he was okay, of course.

It was safe to say that Dean didn’t have a good night’s sleep that night. Roman seemed fine when Dean left but then again Roman was good at hiding his feelings so that didn’t ease Dean’s mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be patient with me and Wyatt Falls, I have to re-read it to remember details I wanted to specify on. I hate that finals had me stop writing for long periods of time. I'm forgetful, not my best quality. But here's another chapter. Enjoy.

The last bell rang on Wednesday afternoon and Roman had made his way towards the boys’ locker room to get changed into his football gear.

Roman noticed Finn as soon as he walked into the locker room, trying to pull his jersey down over his shoulder pads.

“Need help?” Roman asked with a grin.

“Yep. Please.” Finn replied, muffling through the jersey.

Roman tugged the jersey down and heard Finn exhale out loudly like he had been suffocating inside.

“Tanks babe” Finn said, sitting on the bench to put on his cleats.

After Roman tossed off his white t-shirt he heard his phone vibrate and opened it to see a text from Dean,

‘ _Party at Lita’s tonight. Wanna go?_ ’

Roman raised an eyebrow and before he could reply he heard Finn say, “dat Dean?”

“Yeah” Roman replied, starting to text back. ‘ _It’s Wednesday, really, a party?_ ’

“Ye sure Dean isn’t into boys? If I didn’t know any betta I woulda said ye two were together” Finn said, raising an eyebrow with his smirky grin looking up at Roman.

Roman looked back at Finn and for a moment his mind flashed to the possibility of what Dean being into boys would mean for them. “Oh, ha ha.”  He replied with sarcasm.

Finn only looked back at his cleats as a response, but Roman could still see the grin on his face.

Roman turned his attention back to his phone when he got another text, ‘ _so? We used to go all the time. Ro, c’mon._ ’

‘ _I can’t. I got homework due tomorrow. I’ll talk to you later, I got practice_.’ Roman replied, setting his phone in his locker.

“Well, speaking of Dean. In class, today, we were talkin’ ‘bout R-” Finn began to say.

Roman slipped his jersey over his shoulder pads, before giving Finn a hum back, trying not to sound too invested in the conversation, even though anytime someone mentioned Dean and R in the same sentence he was afraid his secret would be exposed.

“I tink we need to find out who R is, I tink Dean needs to put a face on his soul mate” Finn finished.

Roman let out a chuckle, and he wasn’t entirely sure if it was out of humor or nervousness, “Dean doesn’t believe in soul mates. He is interested in R because of the mystery. It will die down soon.”

“If ye say so. C’mon, Coach is going to kill us if we aren’t out soon” Finn got up from the bench, putting on his helmet before heading out of the locker room.

Dean kicked the empty soda can as he made his way to Roman’s house, it had been a few hours since their last text and unless Roman stayed at school to shower, he should have been home by now.

Roman was always a little on the quiet side but never with Dean, so the slow isolation that Roman had been in the last few months, hell- the last year, was beginning to worry Dean. Things had been tough since he came out and the school found out but Dean figure this year would be different. He was starting to think it wasn’t going to be.

 

‘ _Dear R,_

_There’s a guy in my class that I like but every time I try to talk to him I can’t even form a sentence. I want to take a leap and ask him out but I’m afraid of what might happen._

_Please help._

_Sincerely,_

_The back of the class girl’_

Roman tapped this finger on his lip, thinking about a response but more so who all these anonymous people were. Sometimes curiosity got the best of him and he found himself looking around his classes, especially the more specific letters, trying to figure out who sent what.

 

_‘Dear The back of the class girl,_

_I know what’s like to have to take a leap and step out of your comfort zone. I also know boys seem to like things straight out. My advice, if you’re having trouble talking to him practice what you want to say in the mirror (I know this sounds silly but it works). Ask him out, what’s the worst that can happen? If he says no, remember you’re still in high school. College boys are much more mature._

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

 

After Roman saved that one, he moved on to the next letter.

 

‘ _Dear R_ ,

_I think my best friend is hiding something from me. That’s my boy and I’m worried about him. I can’t exactly ask him why he’s lying- he’s been through a lot and I don’t want him to think I’m attacking him. I’ve never sought out advice but I read your columns every week and you’re good with words. I don’t know, I just need him to know that I’m here for him. Anything you got would help._

 

_Sincerely,_

 

_Worried Bro’_

 

 

Roman read through the email and for some reason it hit a little close to home for him. He figured it was high school and everyone was in the same situation but he still read through it a few more times because he didn’t want to sound to invested in the letter- he didn’t want anyone to read too much into it and expose him.

Before he could start, he heard the knob on his bedroom door wiggle, like someone was trying to come in.

Roman slammed his laptop shut and unlocked his door to talk to whoever was on the other side.

“Why was your door locked? You jacking off or something” Dean laughed, pushing through the bedroom door and jumping onto Roman’s bed.

Roman rolled his eyes, “well, hi to you to, Deano. What are you even doing here? I thought you were going to Lita’s house.”

“No, I asked you if you want to go and you said no so I came to help with your homework, since Miss Lane is busting your balls. I’m a fucking genius in every subject” Dean replied, getting up to go to Roman’s laptop.

Roman freaked out, he hadn’t even closed out the windows so he ran over and slammed it shut again when Dean went to open it.

“What the fuck uce” Dean said, pulling his hands back to his chest.

“You caught me, um, sorry I- I was looking at porn” Roman lied straight through his teeth, not knowing what to say.

Dean raised his eyebrow at him, a smirk on his face before he started to laugh, “you almost broke my fingers so I wouldn’t see your guy on guy action?”

Roman didn’t reply, only shrugged his shoulders with an apology.

“Okay, well, get cleaned up and get rid of your boner, I’ll go downstairs to get food and then will get started on your homework, okay, big dog?” Dean said, patting Roman on the arm before leaving the room.

Roman awkwardly chuckled. As soon as he heard Dean go downstairs he opened the laptop, saved his documents and exited all his windows. He even deleted his recent files, not that Dean would even know how to open that up, Dean was smart but technology just wasn’t his thing.

Not that Dean had been staring, or anything, but Roman wasn’t showing any signs of sexual tension. Or at least none noticeable enough to see through his gym shorts. He was hiding something and Dean wanted to know what it was. There was no way Dean could help Roman if he didn’t know what was wrong.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy :)

Patricia stared at her son and Dean lying on the bed, some books and sheets of paper scattered around the bed and floor. Dean had his arm over Roman’s chest.

She smiled down, over the years she had seen them in this very position but never said anything. Patricia thought back to the first time she caught them in this exact position, the way Dean woke up and noticed his arm over Roman, he panicked when he saw her standing there but only used humor to explain what was happening.

“Mom!” Roman shouted, freaking out when he saw her staring down at them, a little creepily.

“What- what happened?” Dean shot up from the bed, waving his arms around.

“Sorry, sorry-” Patricia said, “it’s seven- you’ll both be late to school if you don’t wake up.”

“Oh” Dean said, rubbing his eyes.

Roman watched as his mother explained there was breakfast down stairs before she walked out of his room.

“You can shower here if you want, then will just head over to school” Roman explained.

Dean nodded, walking into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

After they arrived at school that morning, Roman didn’t see much of Dean during the morning.

Roman skipped lunch and headed to the library to finish some of the letters for the advice column. The deadline wasn’t until Saturday but he had things to do the rest of the week and he didn’t think he would have time to finish them. Plus, the letters were piling up, more and more people were sending in letters during the last few months.

Roman read over the letter he got from Worried Bro and took a moment to think about what he wanted to say.

The cafeteria was loud as always, every one talking over each other about whatever was going on in their day. Dean sat down at their lunch table and before he even looked around, Seth said, “isn’t that Roman’s shirt?”

Everyone at their table looked over to where Dean was, as he looked down at the white t-shirt he was wearing.

“Yeah and?” Dean replied, taking a fork full of spaghetti from his plate.

“Why are you wearing it?” Seth asked, eyeing his friend.

“Because I fell asleep at his house and he lend me a shirt, what the fuck does it matter?” Dean said, “-you know, the fact that you can even distinguish a very plain t-shirt as Roman’s is sort of weird.”

Seth lifted his middle finger at Dean as he went back to eating.

“Speaking of Roman- where is he?” Finn asked. Dean looked around, finally getting a chance to see that Roman was nowhere to be seen.

‘ _Dear Worried Bro,_ Roman started.

_You and your friend seem close. I can tell by your letter that you’re concerned. My advice (and I hope I don’t disappoint) is to simply talk to him. Communication is key. I know you said he has been through tough times but take it from me, when I say that it’s always refreshing to hear someone say that they are there for you._

_But if you don’t want to do that consider doing something your friend likes but don’t expect anything in return or for them to notice. Just try and take their mind off whatever is going on in their head, even for just a moment._

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

Roman saved his response and moved onto a few more letters before he heard a familiar set of voices in the library.

“Aye, I told you he’d be in here. Fucking nerd-” Dean said, walking over to where Roman was sitting in the back of the library. Finn and Seth following behind him.

“Why are you way back here?” Seth asked, taking a seat at the table.

“You skipped lunch. I don’t know if you ate but I brought you a sandwich” Dean explained, setting the wrapped in plastic sandwich next to Roman’s computer.

“Thanks” Roman replied.

“What ye doin’?” Finn asked, sneaking a peek at the computer screen but it only had a blank page on it.

“Homework-”

“I thought you said you finished it last night?” Dean asked.

“Yeah-I, uh, I thought I did. I have a paper due next week” Roman explained.

“And you’re getting started on it now?” Seth said looking at Roman like he was from outer space.

Roman just chuckled, closing out the tabs on his computer before shutting it down, “Well, I’m done for now. Let’s go outside.”

Dean didn’t say anything, only nodded as they all headed towards the back of the school to hang out on the bleachers and talk about the upcoming games they each had.

When the lunch bell rang, Dean and Roman walked side by side, just holding small talk as they went inside the school building, being crowded by the rest of the students going to their own classes.

“Hey Roman-” Dean said.

“Yeah uce, what’s up?”

“Are you coming to my game Friday?” Dean asked, pushing through students in the hallway.

“Yeah man, of course. You know I’ve never missed a game” Roman explained, heading towards his locker.

Dean tried to bite his tongue but his sassy tone slipped when he said, “I was just wondering, you know since you’ve been distant lately.”

Roman noticed almost immediately, eyeing his best friend for a moment before replying, “A-are- is there a problem uce?”

Dean tapped his collar bone, staring at Roman, the last thing he wanted to do was push him away but he was starting to feel like Roman was the one pushing him away.

“Nah” Dean replied simply, “see you later.”

Roman watched as Dean walked off, not sure what had happened but he tried not to read too much into his behavior, considering that he had known Dean a long time and this wouldn’t be the first-time Dean took out his aggressions on Roman.

“Alright class” Mr. Lester started a few minutes after Roman had taken his seat, “it’s the middle of the semester- so that means mid-term finals and transfers.” 

During the first semester of the year, Miss Lane allowed students to rearrange their class schedule for elective classes chosen if the student was unsatisfied with their courses. Roman had chosen creative writing and he wasn’t disappointed with the course so he decided to keep it.

_‘What about floral design?’ Dean suggested._

_‘I’m not the creative type, you know that’ Roman replied._

It was going to be their final year and they finally had the opportunity to choose their own electives as opposed to their coach having the final say in their class schedule to accommodate with their practice in the field.

‘ _You took art last year’ Dean inputted._

_‘Yeah and I hated it, my final project consisted of having to draw a portrait of my future’_

_‘Hey, that was a great portrait. I still think you shouldn’t have torn it up at the end of the year’ Dean explained, trying to convince Roman to take their final elective together._

_‘Yeah, well I still don’t want to go through that again even if I won’t have to draw anything’_

_‘Fine, what do **you** want to take?’ _

They had each decided to take different electives and from what Roman could tell Dean was also satisfied with his choice.

“Soon our class will be joined with three more students… Jesse Johnson, AJ Lee and Kurt Hale-”

Roman raised his head at the sound of the last name that had been said, he saw the whole classroom looking at him, some seemed worried or afraid and others looked offended.

“KURT HALE!” Dean shouted, walking back and forth, kicking dirt from the baseball field into the air.

Seth and a few other baseball players who were on the other side of the field, turned to face them with a worried expression. Roman waved them off to let them know things were okay, before looking back at Dean whose face was growing red with anger.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little lengthy, I'm sorry. Enjoy it anyway. :)

_“After what happened- how… why would they even think it’s a good idea to put the two of you in the same classroom?” Dean had questioned._

_Roman wasn’t sure how to respond but after soothing his best friends worries for the time being, he had reassured him that he would sit on opposite sides of the classroom whenever he did get transferred._

It had been a few days since they had that conversation and Hale had yet to show up to his creative writing class, so Roman figured they might have realized the error and rearranged his schedule but on Friday evening when Roman walked into class Kurt was sitting at the back of the classroom.

Everyone in the class eyed each of them like World War 3 was about to break out, but when Kurt looked up at Roman, he looked straight back down at the notebook on his desk.

Roman let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in and took a seat on the opposite side of Kurt, just like he had promised Dean.

“The draft for your term paper is due, please pass them up and remember the final paper is due Monday” Mr. Lester had stated.

After the assignment had been passed up, Mr. Lester went back to his lecture as Roman stared over at Kurt for a moment and caught him staring back at him. Kurt quickly looked away and he decided to do the same, opening his computer and check his email to see if Shay had sent him anything.

Roman had sent in his advice column letters earlier in the day and was checking for a confirmation that she had received them. A few months ago, there had been an issue with their emails and there was a week without advice from _Dear R_ and it shockingly created a buzz around school.

A lot of rumors had started- Seth had been the first one say that _R_ had been suspended because of ‘her’ snappy comebacks. Particularly, to a letter he had sent in a few months back. If Roman was being honest, he had walked right into it.

Seth had written in trying to expose _R_ and find out who was behind the advice but since Roman had been at the table during the plotted ‘scheme’ to get _R_ to expose themselves, Roman knew not to fall for it.

 

‘ _Editor Notes’_ the subject read.

‘ _Good afternoon R,_

_I received your responses and I appreciate your efforts to send them in a day earlier than the norm. It leaves my Sunday open. Thank you._

_Sincerely,_

_Shay’_

 

After the class ended, Roman waited till Kurt left the room before he walked out into the hall, refusing to get caught off guard again.

“Dean-” Roman said, seeing him leaning up against his locker, “what are you doing here? I figured you’d be out in the field by now.”

“Just wanted to make sure you were okay- did Hale do anything to you?” Dean asked, tilting Roman’s head side to side to make he didn’t have any bruises.

Roman jokingly slapped his hand away, “no. I’m fine. H-he didn’t even say anything.”

“Well, I bet he’s going to think twice before coming at you again- I still swear to you that you flew across the table when you took him down” Dean said smiling, playfully throwing punches at Roman’s ribs.

“Not my proudest moment Deano” Roman replied, opening his locker to put his backpack inside.

“He deserved it, you know? You were just defending yourself. He started all of that shit.” Dean tried to justify what had happened between Roman and Kurt the year before.

Roman didn’t say anything about the incident anymore, instead he patted Dean on the chest and told him he would be out in the field once the last bell rang to cheer him on for his game.

They’re team ended up losing by a home run from the other team. Dean was more than upset, he hated a loss but after the game Roman, Dean and a few other friends went to a nearby pizza parlor and things eased up.

The weekend flew by, between finishing up the term paper and football practice he didn’t have much time to do anything else. Dean, as much as he wanted to go see Roman just to see how he was holding up, didn’t have time either, after the devastating loss of the first baseball game of the season, Coach had them working overtime.

Dean left Monday morning for school earlier that he normally would, he was anticipating advice from _R_ and he wanted to read it through before Roman arrived at school.

_Dear Worried Bro,_

_You and your friend seem close. I can tell by your letter that you’re concerned. My advice (and I hope I don’t disappoint) is to simply talk to him. Communication is key. I know you said he has been through tough times but take it from me, when I say that it’s always refreshing to hear someone say that they are there for you._

_But if you don’t want to do that consider doing something your friend likes but don’t expect anything in return or for them to notice. Just try and take their mind off whatever is going on in their head, even for just a moment._

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

Dean read over the advice a few times, he might have tried talking to Roman a few days ago but with the recent changes that involved an asshole named Kurt Hale he didn’t think talking about his feelings would be something Roman wanted to do so he put all his effort on the second part of the advice.

“Do something he might like-” Dean whispered to himself. He took out a piece of paper and began writing down things Roman liked.

_Things Roman likes:_

_football_

_video games_

_food_

_game of thrones_

Dean continued to write down everything he could think of but nothing made Dean feel like it would help Roman talk to him about whatever was going on.

“Hey uce” Roman greeted, patting Dean on the back, watching as Dean crumbled up the paper he had been writing on and threw it inside his backpack.

“What was that?” Roman asked.

“Nothin’- just doodling… but it looks like shit” Dean joked, ripping out the advice column and putting it in his back pocket.

“No thoughts on Dear R’s advice today?” Roman asked, finding it odd that Dean hadn’t mentioned the newspaper, which was normally the first thing that came out of his mouth Monday morning.

“Oh, uh nah. Just a bunch of mushy stuff” Dean joked again as they walked alongside each other to their classes.

Roman let out a chuckle, trying to stop thinking about what Dean had been ‘doodling’ before he arrived.

“I’ll see you at lunch, alright” Dean said, kissing Roman on the head before walking off in another direction.

Roman looked around, wondering if anyone saw the peck on the head, it’s not like Dean had never done that before but he had certainly never done that in school. A little smile creeped on his face as he walked into his first class.

Dean hadn’t realized what he had done until he started to walk off. He rubbed his collar bone with the palm of his hand trying to stop whatever it was that was trying to blossom.

When lunch rolled around Dean felt a sigh of relief when Roman didn’t bring up the kiss on the head and he was grateful for it because he wasn’t sure how he would have responded. Kisses on the head wasn’t exactly a secret but it was more of a thing that happened behind closed doors as opposed to doing it in the middle of the hallway for everyone to see.

“The weirdest tink happened to me dis morning” Finn said, as they sat around the table eating their lunches.

“You’re Irish, weird things happen to you all the time” Seth said with humor.

“What happened?” Dean asked.

“Don’t make it obvious buh ye see the girl with the dark hair sitting on da far-left table-” Finn began, once everyone looked over as obvious as the sky is blue. Finn shook his head, palming his face but continued anyway when everyone nodded, “she asks me out.”

‘The back of the class girl’ Roman whispered to himself as a small smile formed on his face.

“What did you say?” Roman’s curiosity peaked.

“Well, yes. I said yes. She’s a cute girl.” Finn replied.

Dean had been looking over at Roman trying to figure out what he had whispered to himself, he was within earshot from Roman but he still didn’t catch what he had said.

Between each of their input on what Finn had told them they ended up staying inside the cafeteria till the bell rang for their next class.

“I guess back of the class girl took R’s advice, huh?” Dean asked Roman as they walked back into the hallway.

“Yeah, I guess she di-” Roman stopped himself, closing his eyes for a moment after he had just admitted to knowing what was going on in the advice column. Roman always claimed he wasn’t interested in reading the advice column, whenever Dean talked about it he informed him of what the latest topics were but because Roman felt like he might expose himself if he even mentioned _R_ , so he told Dean he didn’t read the column.

Dean smiled, “I caught you.” Dean had figured out what Roman had said and realized that Roman had been lying about not reading the advice column.

Roman played it off by smiling, “yeah. I-I guess R isn’t so bad”

Dean nodded, patting Roman on the chest, “alright well, I have to go to class but don’t think you got a free pass on this one. You mocked me for months for reading the advice column, it’s only fair that I make a joke about it at least once.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Roman replied.

Dean smiled, walking down the hall towards floral design, trying to think of a way to not be obvious that he was Worried Bro, because Dean was sure Roman had read the entire advice column, including his letter.

“Good afternoon students. How is everyone’s day?” Mrs. Castro said, greeting her class.

She received hummed, annoyed moans and other strange noises that were not justified as a response to her question so she asked again.

Once more she got hums and anything else other than a response so she continued, “okay, since it seems that you have got the Monday blues, today we are throwing out our agenda and will do something else instead. Something to get you talking and out of your blue mood.”

Mrs. Castro dumped different things on the main table in front of the class- markers, glitter, ribbons, and anything she had at her disposal onto the white surface.

“Today I want you to create something for someone special in your life- a boyfriend/girlfriend, a best friend or even your parents. It doesn’t have to be fancy and it won’t be for a grade I just want you to express yourself. Making it meaningful.”

Dean tapped his collar bone, a smile on his face as he saw his perfect opportunity to take R’s advice and make something for Roman. He walked over to the main table and looked at everything scattered on it.

“But what?” Dean bit his lip as he whispered to himself about what he could make.

“What?” Carmella, a female softball player, asked overhearing Dean’s predicament.

“What-” Dean repeated before realizing what she meant, “oh-nothing. I just don’t know what to make.”

“Well, who are you making it for?” Carmella asked.

“Does it matter?” Dean replied, eyeing her like she had said something offensive.

“Yes, of course it does. You can’t make something fabulous for just anyone. Mrs. Castro said it has to be for someone special and if that person is special to you then they deserve something from the heart-” Carmella explained, “-I’m making something for my boyfriend it’s going to be a key chain because he loves his car, but not just any key chain. One with a special message.”

“A special message?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, we met freshmen year and it was because he accidently hit me with a basketball. It’s going to be the shape of a basketball so we can always remember how me met. Although, I don’t think I’ll ever forget being hit in the face with a ball” Carmella said as she giggled.

Dean chuckled at that too, nothing says romance like being struck in the face with an object.

“Anyways, good luck with whatever you’re making” she said, smiling and then walking off with Styrofoam.

Dean stood there for a moment, eyeing everything again before deciding that what Carmella said was meaningful and he ended up taking a few things back to his desk. He took a deep breath before starting to put things together.

A while later when the bell rang, Dean hadn’t finished what he had been making and it upset him so he asked Mrs. Castro if he could stay behind to finish it.

“Well, I’ve never seen you so invested in something this much before so I’ll allow it but if your coach comes looking for you I won’t be able to stop him if he decides to take you, alright?” Mrs. Castro had stated.

Dean had nodded, going back to finish his very thought out and meaningful gift for Roman.

When Roman walked to his locker he found it a little weird that Dean was nowhere to be seen. He always made it an effort to hang out before they headed to their last class. Even though it was a small altered detail, he still felt a missing piece in his daily routine not having Dean there.

He took out his cellphone to text him just to make sure everything was okay between them-

‘ _Yo bud, is everything okay?_ ’


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm putting this up a day early because.... IT'S JOE 'ROMAN REIGNS' ANOA'I BIRTHDAY!! I love him so much, I hope he has a great day and gets to spend it with the ones he loves. 
> 
> On to this the chapter- Enjoy. :)

‘ _Yo bud, is everything okay?_ ’ Dean read.

‘ _Meet me in the locker room after school’_ Dean replied with a smile.

Dean grabbed his things and left Mrs. Castro’s classroom, thanking her for letting him stay before running to the locker room to get changed into his baseball uniform.

Roman took out his cellphone when he heard it vibrate, making sure his teacher was still facing the chalkboard, before opening it to see Dean’s text.

Something in Roman dropped, it wasn’t like Dean and Roman had gotten into a fight recently, just disagreements but he didn’t think that wasn’t a big deal in the sense of the bigger picture. He tried to think of something that might have distressed Dean, he could still be upset about the loss of the first game or upset that Roman was being distant lately. He knew he had been. He just felt like he was living two lives and that wasn’t as easy as Superman made it seem.

Once the last bell rang, Roman just about ran out of the classroom and headed towards the men’s locker room to find Dean getting dressed.

The thin waist his best friend was hiding under his t-shirts should been a crime. Roman shook his head, reminding himself not to think about him that way. “Dean, what’s up? Are you okay?”

“What- yeah man.”

“You just- I dunno I thought something was wrong because of your text” Roman explained.

Dean raised his eyebrow before realizing his text message did sound a little suspicious. Dean chuckled, “oh nah. I’m fine. I just- I made you something in class today. Don’t laugh, okay?”

Roman watched as Dean reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a necklace, it looked handmade. The string was made of leather thread and it had a penny shaped copper at the bottom, shaped like a football. The football had a small crafted message written in it that said, ‘ _You’re my family’_ and on the back, it read ‘- _Dean_ ’.

Roman bit his bottom lip trying to hold back a string of feelings.

“You think it’s lame- I mean, it’s oka-” Roman cut Dean off mid-sentence, pulling his best friend in for a hug. Roman held onto Dean like his life depended on it, embracing him for longer than he should have.

“I love it” Roman said near Dean’s ear.

Dean felt a smile forming on his face holding Roman tighter for a moment.

When the hug broke, they each held onto each other slightly and they stood still as their eyes met one another.

Roman locked his sights on Dean’s sky blue eyes, he always felt like he was on the beach when he stared into them, a picture-perfect image of his bare feet in the sand, walking by Dean’s side, holding his hand, their fingers fitting perfectly in each other’s-

Before Roman could process what he was doing he leaned in and locked his lips with Dean’s.

The touch was soft, Roman could taste the pineapple that Dean had for lunch earlier, and before he could savor the flavor Dean quickly pulled away.

Dean’s wide eyes were the only thing Roman could see. He had fucked up…

“I- I’m-” Roman couldn’t get the words out.

“I have to go” Dean said, walking out of the locker room with his t-shirt in one hand and his backpack in the other.

“Dean!” Roman shouted after him but Dean had left, leaving Roman to hate himself for what he had done. He ran his hand through his hair mentally cursing himself out for letting his feelings come to light. He’s friendship with Dean was a treasure for Roman and he had just messed things up.

The necklace Dean had given Roman was being clutched tight by Roman’s hand. When he realized, and let the pressure go, he eyed the necklace for what seemed like forever before putting it over his head and left it hanging down his neck.

“I have to fix this” Roman said to himself before grabbing his backpack and heading out of the locker room.

Dean heard Roman call after him but his feet didn’t stop, he kept walking even though he had no idea where he was going. He put his shirt on and ended up near the small park in their neighborhood.

He sat down on a bench and touched his lips, the feeling of Roman’s lips touching his was still there.

“What just happened?” Dean asked himself. Dean’s phone vibrated and saw a text message from Roman. He took a deep breath before reading it. ‘ _I’m so sorry man, I fucked up. I don’t know why I did that. I hope you can forgive me. I screwed things up. Please call me._ ’

Dean was debating if he should text back but was interrupted when he got another text message from Roman.

‘ _I really loved your gift… I’m sorry_.’

Dean closed out his text messages and took out a notebook and paper from his backpack.

‘ _Dear R_ ,’ Dean began to write.

_‘I took your advice and gave my friend a gift. Something from the heart and he really liked it. But now I’m in a tough spot. Something happened and I think I’m in love with him. No, I KNOW I’m in love with him. I guess I’ve known for a long time but the thought of him ever having feelings for me seemed unlikely. I don’t know what to do. We’ve been friends for a long time and the last thing I want to do is risk our friendship for a potential relationship. He didn’t even know I was gay, how am I supposed to explain that to him? I really need your help._

_Sincerely,_

_Worried Bro(mance)_ ’

Dean looked down at the letter and debated whether he should submit it. He needed advice but he would also risk the possibility of Roman reading the column and finding out it was him.

He knew he was in love with Roman, he had known for a long time. The kissed on the head, the constant time they spend with each other must have been obvious but Dean had never admitted he was gay, or maybe bi-sexual-whatever- he wasn’t into labels but even after Roman told him he was gay, Dean couldn’t find it in himself to confide in Roman- just yet- about how he felt about him.

Every time Roman heard his phone vibrate he hoped it was a text message from Dean but all he got was messages from his mother or one of his friends.

Roman thought about going to Dean’s house but he figured his house would be the last place he would go to think, usually when Dean needed a place to refresh his mind he went over to his house. Roman held a slight hope that Dean would be at his house when he arrived, maybe in the kitchen with his mom eating all the food but when Roman walked into the kitchen he wasn’t there.

“Hi honey, are you okay?” Patricia asked, kissing his forehead.

“I’m fine” Roman replied, kissing his mother’s cheek before heading upstairs to his bedroom.

Again, Roman checked his phone for a text but saw nothing from Dean so he decided to shower to try and relax his muscles and clear his mind.

Dean need advice now- he couldn’t wait a whole week for _R_ to reply so he went back to the high school to see if Miss Lane was available.

“Miss Lane” Dean said as he knocked on the open door.

“Mr. Ambrose, what a pleasant surprise, come in. How can I help you?” Miss Lane asked, setting her pen down on the desk.

Dean sat down on the chair across from her desk, “hypothetically speaking, if I had to contact _R_ , from the _Dear R_ advice column and couldn’t wait a full week for her response- how would I be able to reach her?”

Miss Lane looked at Dean for a moment a little confused, she was the school counselor and she knew all the students, which meant she knew how close Roman and Dean were. She found it surprising that Roman’s best friend wouldn’t know that he was R. Roman _really hadn’t_ confided in anyone about his secret.

“Hypothetically speaking, yes, there would be. But I would need approval from R.” Miss Lane replied.

“How long would that take?” Dean asked.

“If I sent the request today, I should get a response by the end of the day but the advice column goes through the editor so she would have to look over the responses to make sure they’re within the school guidelines before you receive a reply-” Miss Lane explained.

“When would I get a reply from the editor?”

“Wednesday afternoon, the latest” Miss Lane replied.

Dean tapped his collarbone, he wasn’t sure why he was so dependent on _R’_ s advice- but he figured if he took different routes to class he should be able to avoid Roman until he got a reply from _R_ and he figured out what to do.

“Okay, so the letter- would I leave that with you?” Dean asked.

“Yes, I’ll email it if I get the approval and then I’ll have R contact you with a response” Miss Lane explained.

He nodded, taking the letter out of his pocket to give it to her and then thanked her for her help.

“Dean-” Miss Lane said before Dean left the room and once he turned back to face her she continued, “-why does everyone assume the person behind the advice column is a female?”

“I-” Dean stopped himself from responding when he thought about the it, “-I don’t know, actually.”

“Hmm, well I guess that will remain a mystery to me” Miss Lane said, “have a safe walk home.”

Dean nodded and gave her a grin before walking out of the room and starting his way back to his house.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I'm so sorry, I know it's been a minute since I updated but I've been busy and sick the last few days. I'm hoping to get back on track. Enjoy this chapter :)

Roman read through the email he received from Miss Lane,

‘ _Roman,_

_A student requested that I submit an urgent letter to the Dear R advice column. It’s not required of you to take time out of your day to reply before the deadline this weekend but the student asked that I submit it anyway. I have attached the letter below if you wish to respond._

_Kassandra Lane_ ’

Roman opened the attached file and read through it.

‘ _Dear R_ ,

_I took your advice and gave my friend a gift. Something from the heart and he really liked it. But now I’m in a tough spot. Something happened and I think I’m in love with him. No, I KNOW I’m in love with him. I guess I’ve known for a long time but the thought of him ever having feelings for me seemed unlikely. I don’t know what to do. We’ve been friends for a long time and the last thing I want to do is risk our friendship for a potential relationship. He didn’t even know I was gay, how am I supposed to explain that to him? I really need your help._

 

_Sincerely,_

_Worried Bro(mance)_ _’_

Roman re-read the letter a few times before opening the previous letter from Worried Bro and set them side to side. Something about them was just too similar to what was going on between him and Dean. Could _Worried Bro_ be Dean? Roman twirled his necklace in between his fingers, wondering if Dean was seeking advice from the _Dear R_ column.

 

I KNOW I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM.

He continued to re-read that line. If Worried Bro was Dean, then that meant his best friend- the only guy Roman had ever wanted to be with but had no idea he was gay- was in love with him too.

But then why would Dean freak out when Roman had kissed him. Why hadn’t Dean just told Roman he loved him and kissed him back? Why hadn’t Dean trusted Roman enough to even tell him he was gay?

Roman had to find out if Worried Bro was Dean and he had an idea on how to do it.

‘ _Dear Worried Bro,_

_It sounds like whatever happened between the two of you was enough to let you admit your feelings for him. My advice to you is to take a leap of faith. If you love him then why stop yourself from being together and letting something blossom between the two of you?_

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

Roman decided that the response sounded a little too personal so he added,

_P.S._

_Let me know how everything turns out for you. I’m emotionally invested in this now._

“Yup, that sounds good. Not too obvious, but not too detached” Roman said to himself.

But before Roman could send it he bit his lip and thought about the consequences. If Worried Bro was Dean and if Dean took R’s advice then that meant Roman was manipulating Dean into asking him out, right? Was it wrong for him to use the advice column to his advantage?

Roman twirled his necklace in between his fingers again, looking at a picture of him and Dean, the one they took the first day of sixth grade, that was pinned to the dry erase board on his wall.

“I’m in love with Dean and if this is Dean then he is in love with me too- I shouldn’t feel bad. We can be together” Roman said to himself, trying to convince himself that what he was about to do wasn’t wrong, or manipulating. It was only speeding up the inevitable, right?

Roman hit send and then closed his laptop, grabbing his cellphone to try and text Dean again.

‘ _Guess what I’m looking at right now_?’ he sent, proceeding to take a picture of the photo of the two of them and then send it to Dean’s phone.

Dean laid on his bed as he looked at the photo Roman had just sent him.

“Trying to avoid Roman for the next two days is going to be harder than I thought” Dean said to himself, trying to stop himself from thinking about the way Roman’s lips felt on his.

Dean tried to avoid Roman as best as he could, he skipped lunch and instead headed out to the baseball field to practice with some of his teammates and in the hall way he took different routes to avoid seeing him at his locker.

The look of regret and concern flashed on Roman’s face the few seconds that Dean had seen him in a crowded hall way. He felt bad for avoiding Roman, if he was being honest that was the hardest thing he had to do in a long time and that said a lot, but he wasn’t sure how to approach Roman without _R_ ’s advice. It was bothering him how much he depended on _R_. It was just that _R_ gave him confidence and reassurance.

There was only one other person that gave him that and he couldn’t exactly go to Roman for advice on Roman.  

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Finn asked with a grin at lunch.

Roman shrugged his shoulders, the sound of Dean being referred to Roman as _his_ boyfriend had a nice ring to it but he was also concerned with the way Dean had been ignoring him. Maybe he wasn’t _Worried Bro_ and maybe Dean _was_ freaked out by the kiss.

Those two days felt like an entire lifetime to Dean so when he found an envelope in his locker that had Miss Lane’s name at the front he was relieved to open it and see a response from R.

Dean read through it, his heart beating at the thought of risking a lifetime friendship for a chance at a lifetime romance.

The final bell rang and Dean felt his hands get sweaty and his heart was beating so fast he thought his heart would explode as he walked over to where Roman usually hung out after school. He saw all their friends hanging out and laughing at something Finn had said.

“Where you been, man?” Seth asked.

But was ignored as Dean took his leap of faith and put one hand in the back of Roman’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss. Roman could hear their friends in the background, making kissing noises and loud ruckus but all he could focus on was Dean’s lips on his. Roman embraced Dean, pulling him in for a deeper kiss.

“I fucken knew it bro” Finn said, high fiving Sami.

Dean and Roman both broke the kiss, staring at each other with disbelief but also with a longing for each other.

“That was some kiss” Roman said with a hitch in his breath.

“You weren’t so bad yourself” Dean replied with a grin.

“What is going on?” Seth asked out loud, more confused than anything else.

Roman, Dean and the rest of their friends turned to face Seth who was eyeing them with a puzzled expression.

“They’re gay” Baron explained, “as in their as straight as boiled spaghetti.”

Dean wheezed at the comparison and grabbed Roman’s hand as he gave it a small kiss, “I like Roman, actually I’m in love with him and if he feels the same way. I- um, I would like to give this a chance, I know we’ve been friends for a long time but I’m willing to try out this whole boyfriend thing if you are?”

Roman smiled at Dean. _Worried Bro_ had to be Dean. Before his conscience started to take over he kissed him on the head and said, “I am if you are.”

“Good. Guess we’re boyfriends, then-” Dean added, “now can we stop the mushiness and go get some pizza?”

Roman chuckled and then nodded, inviting the rest of the boys to see if they wanted to join them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hook up might seem rushed depending on how you see it but I promise it's all part of the story. The next few chapters are going to be fluff- will be seeing the relationship blossom, enjoy them while you can because soon shit is about to hit the fan. Okay, I've said enough, see you next chapter :) feedback is ALWAYS welcome.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy :) 
> 
> I'm thinking the next chapter might be a little longer because I've got ideas ;) but will see...

Roman read through the emails that Shay had sent him, trying to get through them before the deadline. He was trying to catch up a burning passion for his new boyfriend that had a built up for seventeen years in the last two days.

“ _Dear R,_

_If I went to a party and kissed someone who wasn’t my boyfriend. It was only once and I quickly regretted it, is that still cheating? Should I tell my boyfriend?_

_Please help,_

_Not So Unfaithful_ ”

 

“ _Dear Not So Unfaithful,_

_I can tell you’re having feelings of uncertainty. My advice, tell him the truth. He will most likely be upset but not as upset as he would be if he heard it from someone else. Also, relationships are based on trust- there is no trust in secrets._

_Best of luck,_

_R’_

Relationships are based on trust. There is no trust in secrets.

Roman’s cellphone buzzed on the side of his desk and read a text message from Dean-

‘ _I’m hungry’_

‘ _Want to order a pizza?_ ’ Roman replied, saving his documents and exited the screen on his computer.

‘ _Yeah, I’m on my way to your house’_ Dean replied.

‘ _Okay babe’_ Roman replied.

Dean smiled down at the pet name, Roman had said it before to him and to others but this time it was different. This time Roman meant it romantically and he loved it.

When Dean got to Roman’s house he saw Roman waiting outside for him, arms wide open, ready to cuddle Dean inside of them.

“Is it cheesy if I tell you I missed you?” Roman asked, kissing Dean.

“Maybe a little-” Dean replied, taking in Roman for a deeper kiss, “-but I like it.”

Roman smiled, taking Dean’s hand in his and then headed inside his house and upstairs to his bedroom, where Dean jumped onto the bed. His arms under his head, the small patch of skin showing on his body because his shirt had slid up a little.

Roman licked his bottom lip, eyeing his boyfriend like a lion eyes their prey. If there was one thing Roman wanted, it was to have Dean, romantically, emotionally and sexually. But. He didn’t want to rush things either, at least not until Dean said he was ready to move into the next stage of their relationship. The term boyfriend was still new to each of them so they had all the time in the world to be intimate with one another, for now, Roman was okay with just kissing and cuddling.

And in the last few days they had done a lot of each.

“Why are you looking at me like you want to eat me?” Dean asked, winking at Roman.

“Because I-” _Patience Roman, he said to himself_. “I’m hungry. Pizza is taking forever. I ordered it like fifteen minutes ago.”

Dean smiled, getting up from the bed just enough to pull Roman down so that he was lying on the bed with him. “Roman-”

“Yeah babe?”

“When are you going to ask me?”

“Ask you what?” Roman asked, playing dumb. But he knew what Dean was talking about. Roman just wasn’t sure he was ready to hear why his best friend couldn’t trust him enough to tell him he was gay.

He had thought about asking him when they were alone at the pizza parlor the other day but he decided against it knowing that he wasn’t ready to hear the truth. The truth that maybe Dean didn’t trust Roman the way Roman trusted him.

Dean took a deep breath, because what he was about to admit wasn’t easy for him. Sure, Roman was his best friend and now he was his boyfriend but it still didn’t make it easier for him to admit the truth. “I didn’t tell you why I had feelings for you, despite knowing for a long time… I just-  when you told me you were gay I thought- I don’t know I-”

“Dean-” Roman said, pushing their bodies closer together, “we don’t have to talk about this now.”

Before either of them could say anything more, they heard the doorbell ring, Roman kissed Dean on the lips before getting up to go answer it.

It was the pizza man.

Dean laid on the bed, thinking about the last couple of days. He and Roman were practically inseparable before but now they held hands instead of accidently bumping shoulders. They kissed on the lips instead of sneaking in forehead kisses. They kissed so much that Seth had gotten fed up with it and it had only been two days.

“ _Are you two going to be kissing every chance you get?” Seth had asked, “I mean, fine, I’ll admit I’m happy that you two finally confessed your feelings for each other and came out of the closet but- first, the pizza parlor, then the video game arcade and now at lunch, really?”_

_Roman had just smiled and kissed Dean on the hand._

_Dean, on the other hand, replied with, “jealous, are we?”_

_Seth being Seth only flipped him off and went back to eating. All their friends had their own way of being supportive, despite Dean and Roman not confessing their love for each out loud, all their friends knew something more was blossoming than just friendship._

_Even Carmella, from Floral Design, had ran up to Dean and congratulated him on getting with one of the hottest guys on the football team._

_“How long had you been waiting to give Roman that kiss?” Carmella had said, “that was the most desperate kiss I have ever seen.”  She had joked. “Really, though, I’m happy for you. How did he like your gift?”_

_“How’d you-” Dean had cut himself off when Carmella just smiled, a smile that only someone who was in love could display. She knew what loves was and she saw the same look in Dean for Roman._

_“-he never takes it off” Dean had replied instead with a large smile. Because Roman didn’t. He always had it on and that always made Dean’s heart warm up._

He had to thank R for that advice. “I need to write her a letter” Dean had said to himself.

“Pizza’s here!” Roman said, blasting through the bedroom door.

Dean sat cross legged on the bed as Roman set the pizza box on the bed already eating a slice with his other hand. “When do you get out of practice tomorrow?”

“Around two, I think, why?” Dean asked in between bites.

“Do you want to go watch a movie or something?” Roman asked.

“Are you asking me out on a date? I have a boyfriend, you know” Dean joked.

Roman smiled, playing along, “that’s okay. He doesn’t have to know about us.”

“What kind of guy do you take me for?” Dean replied, a hand on his chest pretending to be offended.

Roman laughed, leaning in to kiss Dean’s lips before saying, “you’re my guy is what you are.”

“Damn right I am” Dean confidently said, “so, what movie did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know, I’ll look some up later and pick one that seems cool” Roman replied, taking another piece of pizza.

“Nothing scary” Dean contributed.

Roman smiled, nodding, “okay, okay, nothing scary. Promise.”

By the end of the night, the pizza box was empty and it was getting late, Dean’s mother probably already getting ready to call Roman’s mother for her son to come home.

“I should take you home but I don’t want to” Roman explained.

“I don’t want to go either but I probably should, my mom is going to have a cow if I don’t get home soon” Dean replied, playing with Roman’s hand.

Roman grunted because he didn’t want Dean to go, “come on, I’ll drive you.”

Dean grabbed Roman’s hand as they headed downstairs and outside to Roman’s car.

The deep kiss they shared before Dean got out of the car had both of them stretching out their pants, suddenly getting too tight in certain areas.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course babe. Good night.”

“Good night, Ro.”  


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little longer than the rest. Enjoy. :)
> 
> Oh, and if you find any missing words or something isn't spelled correctly, please tell me. Editing goes sideways when you stare at something too much. Thanks. Feedback is always welcome.

Roman needed to submit one final response before getting ready for his date in an hour. He was trying extremely hard to concentrate on doing justice to his replies but he couldn’t stop think about his dream last night.

After he dropped off Dean he went straight to bed when he had gotten home and the following morning woke up a little happier than usual.

He dreamt of touching Dean in ways that seemed impossible before. Roman wanted to kiss his way down Dean’s stomach, to hold on tight to his small waist. The same waist that was just perfect for him. Roman had thought a lot about how good it would feel to dig his fingernails into his sides as he made sweet love to him.

“Focus Roman” he said to himself, unconsciously licking his lips as he read through the final letter of that week’s advice column.

‘ _Dear R,_

_This isn’t exactly a letter seeking advice. It’s more of a letter asking for forgiveness. I write this letter for our football team’s defensive tackle, Roman Reigns._

Roman blinked a few times, baffled about what he had read. He felt his heart skip a beat at the possibility that maybe he had been exposed but he let out a sigh of relief with he continued to read through it.

_I’m sorry for what I did to you, Roman. I’m not trying to excuse what I did because there is no justification for the way I treated you but I was in a tough place. I feel as if I owe you an explanation as to why I attacked you as opposed to anyone else but I can’t. You just happened to be the opportunity that presented itself when you openly admitted to everyone that you were gay. I was going through a lot of things that I didn’t know how deal with and I took out my anger on you. I’m sorry for everything I did to you. All of it. I just want you to know that I deserved what you did to me. I remember calling you names and throwing the first punch but the rest is black. The only thing I was sure of was that you had kicked my ass and I was in the hospital treating bruised ribs and a dislocated jaw. I heard that you never bragged about sending me to the hospital but you should have. I deserved it._

_I’m asking for your forgiveness but I understand if you can’t do that. I just wanted you to know that I was sorry and that you obtain a massive amount of courage for the way you handled yourself. I bullied you nonstop for a year and aside from that one time you never fought back or said anything distasteful to me. I never understood how you could hold such a restraint on yourself. I don’t want to offend you and I’m not trying to jump on a high horse by saying this but when I saw you in Mr. Lester’s class I knew I had broken something in you. The look in your eyes was different than it was last year. I don’t know what’s been causing that pain in your eyes but I hope that one day you can find peace. If I caused that brokenness, I’m sorry. Know that if I could take back what I did, I would._

_Kurt Hale’_

 

Roman wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the letter. He didn’t know if he felt pity or anger for what Kurt had written. Kurt Hale, the former captain of the soccer team, the one who made his life a living hell was asking for forgiveness.

Even though asking for forgiveness was the reason for the letter, Roman started to focus more on what Kurt had said when he wrote, “when I saw you in Mr. Lester’s class I knew I had broken something in you.”

Because he had. Aside from the football field, Roman had never been flat out aggressive. Kurt’s bulling pushed him to a point that he didn’t know he had. Things had started to change for him after he had defended himself against Kurt. He picked fights for no reason. His grades dropped because he didn’t give a fuck about his education. He had gone from a lovable puppy to a vicious dog.

When Miss Lane had made him chose between suspension or joining the school’s newspaper he wasn’t making an effort to help anyone in the advice column. It wasn’t until Too Young to Be a Mother had written to him asking for advice. She changed his perspective on things and slowly started to become the lovable puppy he had once been, except with a little malice to make sure no one bullied him again.

But another thing that caught Roman’s eye was when Kurt had written, “I don’t know what’s been causing that pain in your eyes…”

It wasn’t pain. At least if Roman had read this letter a few days ago, before Dean and him started dating, he would have thought it was pain. But it was clear as day that it wasn’t pain… it was a longing. A longing for Dean to be his. For Dean to love him the way he loved Dean.

It caused an ache in his heart when he started to remember the way he pushed Dean away last year when all he wanted was to hold him close.

‘ _Dear Kurt Hale,_

_I can tell your apology was well thought out and I believe in my heart that Roman can forgive you._

_R._ ’

Roman sent his response and made his way towards the bathroom to take a shower.

Around two thirty, Roman drove to the school’s parking lot and waited as Dean exited the gym and walked towards his car.

Dean’s hair was slicked back, his earring on one ear and toothpick in between his lips. Roman licked his lips at the sight of Dean as he opened the car door and got inside.

“Hey” Dean said, taking the toothpick out to toss it outside the car window.

“How was practice?” Roman asked, not giving him time to answer as he pulled him in for a kiss.

“Usual” Dean replied when the kiss broke, “things are better now.”

Roman smiled, placing a kiss on Dean’s hand and then proceed to drive off the parking lot towards the movie theater.

“Which movie are we watching?” Dean asked, turning his baseball cap on backwards.

“Beneath the darkness” Roman replied, “it’s a suspense movie.”

“The one about the teens that break into some guy’s house?”

“Yeah.”

Roman held Dean’s hand as they made their way inside the theater after ordering their popcorn and drinks.

“One straw?” Roman pointed out as they took their seat and noticed they only had one.

“You think I got germs or something?” Dean joked.

Roman rolled his eyes playfully, kissing Dean’s cheek before taking a sip of their soda. Roman played with Dean’s hand as they talked about their mornings.

Roman wanted to talk to Dean about Kurt’s letter but he knew he couldn’t without exposing himself as _R_.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about the letter because although he felt like he forgave him for everything that went down between them, he still wasn’t sure what to say to Kurt once the advice column was printed on Monday. He needed advice from his best friend and couldn’t ask for it.

The movie had started and aside from the obnoxious children running up and down the footsteps, it was a good evening. Dean had even feed Roman popcorn in an attempt to be romantic but instead ended up poking his eye because the volume rose in one the scenes that made Dean jump.

“Want to grab something at the diner on Devitt and then go to the park?” Roman asked, opening the doors of the theater for Dean to exit first.

“Yeah, I’m starving” Dean replied with a grin.

On the way to the diner, small drops of water started falling onto the windshield.

“So much for the park? It’s going to start raining” Roman said a little annoyed that their date was going to be ruined by mother nature.

“Looks like it-we can just grab food then go back to your place to play video games or something if you want?” Dean suggested.

Roman looked a little defeated, he wanted something special for their date, not just something they regularly did. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m okay with that.”

Roman turned into the drive thru window, “I should have planned for this. I really wanted our date to be special, I thought the park might have been a good place to go. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Ro, you don’t have to apologize. I’m happy as long as I’m doing something with you.”

Roman smiled, kissing Dean’s hand and in that moment he wanted to tell him everything, the look in Dean’s eyes was honest and pure and Roman just wanted to stop hiding things from him but the voice on the other end of the speaker interrupted, “welcome to Bayley’s Diner, what can I get you?”

After they ordered and picked up their food, the rain had started up hard enough to turn on the windshield wipers.

“Okay, so the rain is really coming down now. Get ready to run inside the house or we’re going to get really wet” Roman explained, turning off the car’s engine once he parked in front of his house.

Dean had grabbed his sweater from his gym bag and tossed the hoodie over his head dramatically then said, “ready.”

“Okay. Go.” Roman said as they both ran out of the car and towards the front door. Dean had been holding the bag of food and Roman almost dropped the cokes in his hand as he tried to open the door.

“So much for trying not to get wet” Dean joked as they made their way inside and their clothes were dripping with water.

Roman chuckled, “sorry. I guess I should have taken out the house key before we left the car. I’ll get us dry clothes.”

“Great, I’ll just strip here.” Dean said, beginning to take off his wet clothing and hanging them off the coat rack.

Roman ran upstairs to change and then grabbed extra clothes for Dean to change into. He hadn’t heard Dean so when he ran back downstairs his eyes tried not to stare at his half naked boyfriend, standing in the middle of the living room.

Luckily, his mother had left for the weekend and wouldn’t back for another few days so she wouldn’t just be walking into see Dean stripped down next to her favorite chair.

“What?” Dean asked.

Roman shook his thoughts out of his daze and then handed Dean sweatpants that probably fit too big and a t-shirt that was definitely not his size, “here.”

“Thanks.” Dean said, putting on his clothes, trying to keep his thoughts from roaming towards grabbing Roman’s butt. He was wearing those gym shorts that always shaped his ass perfectly. He used to wear them to gym and football practice but was tired of all the girls wooing over him.

Dean missed those shorts, except he was running out of excuses for having been caught staring a few times so he was glad he decided not to wear them out anymore. He only wore them inside his house and Dean was lucky enough to see them.

“What game do you want me to set up?” Roman asked.

“Let’s play later. Let’s just eat right now” Dean said.

“Okay”

Roman and Dean took out the food from the paper bag and started to eat, sharing their fries and even feeding some to each other in an attempt to be cute. In the short time, that they had started dating, they realized they weren’t exactly the type of couple to mush over each other but they did do little things that wouldn’t seem romantic to others.

Dean feed some fries to Roman but took it back at the very last second to eat it himself, it made Roman laugh and that’s all Dean wanted. To see Roman laugh.

“I want to tell you something-” Dean said suddenly.

“Okay, shoot.” Roman replied, taking a sip of his coke.

“It’s about Dear R-” Dean began, Roman gave him a nod to continue but a small look of worry flashed his eyes, “it’s nothing bad. I just- I feel like I should confess that I wrote to her asking for advice about us.”

Roman stayed quiet for a moment because he should stop Dean, he should just confess the truth and stop the lies, but instead the words that came out of his mouth asked, “us? What do you mean?”

“Well, you know after you kissed me in the locker room. I- I wasn’t exactly sure how to feel. I mean, I knew that I liked you. I liked you for a long time but I didn’t want to screw up our friendship so I never said anything and- well, I hadn’t even told you I liked guys and so I figured I could just ignore my feelings but then you kissed me and I panicked. I’m sorry about panicking, I just didn’t know what to do. I was… I was scared. So, I wrote to her. I told her what happened between us, she’s the one that suggested I do something for you which is why I made you that necklace and she told me to take a chance and I did.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Roman asked, not sure what else to say.

“Because I don’t want secrets. The doodle I told you I was making wasn’t a doodle. It was a list of things you liked, because I wanted to cheer you up. I just felt like we were pulling apart and I dunno- I don’t want to lose you. I know it sounds cheesy but even before we were together, you were always the person I went to for everything. I love you Roman. I mean that.” Dean said.

Roman was speechless, the little voices in his head were telling him to confess the truth, Dean would understand. They could just start over without secrets but he didn’t.

Roman leaned in and kissed Dean, a small touch of the lips quickly turned to a heated passionate kiss.

Dean slid his hands under Roman’s shirt, pulling up over his head but stopped when Roman stared into his blue eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Dean asked.

“I don’t want to do anything you don’t want to” Roman confessed, “I mean I want you. I know that much but I don’t want to rush anything.”

“Okay, well, let’s not rush” Dean said, “but I do want you to know that I’m in this for the long run.”

“Me too” Roman smiled, “how about I take care of that for you and we stop there.”

Roman looked down at the bulge in Dean’s sweats, he could feel it through the cotton as they had kissed.

Dean nodded slowly, Roman smiling as he slowly slid the sweatpants down. He softly placed his lips at the tip of Dean’s erection and licked around it, praising himself as Dean’s moans echoed through the room. Dean’s hand made its way into Roman’s hair as Roman licked his way down Dean’s length. He let go with a sloppy pop a few times before taking his length back in and Dean’s eyes felt like they were going to roll to the back of his head at the pleasure.

“Oh fuck” Dean let out as Roman continued.

“Fuck, fuck” Dean continued to say, the magic of Roman’s lips working their way on his erection and he could feel himself coming to his release.

He tried to warn Roman but Roman only continued, Dean’s moans growing a little louder as he felt himself coming to his high. Dean’s muscles felt tense for a moment before feeling relaxed as he came down from his orgasm.

“I can take care of that for you” Dean said once he lifted his head to see Roman palming the outside of his shorts.

“Oh, um” Roman said a little embarrassed, “you sort of already did.”

Dean looked at Roman confused before Roman continued with, “your moans are going to be my drug.”

Roman’s caramel skin tone wasn’t tone enough to hide the red on his cheeks so Dean got up from the carpet and picked up his sweats to give his boyfriend a huge sloppy kiss. Nothing sexual just a big wet one.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! It's been forever since my last update. I hope y'all are still with me. Enjoy :)

On Monday morning, Roman walked in to be the talk of the school. Everyone was eyeing him and whispering things to each other. Roman knew right away what the buzz was about.

Kurt Hale and his letter.

“Did you read this?” Dean asked, giving the newspaper to Roman, the advice column on display, “the nerve on this asshole.”

Roman pretended to read the letter but his mind was focused on what to respond to Dean in regards to the letter. He wanted to ask for advice and confess everything.

Since the night Roman tasted Dean for the first time, he wanted to tell him the truth. Roman wanted to tell Dean about the column and the letters and how much he hoped Dean could forgive him but when he opened his mouth-

“Oh.”

_Oh?_ That was the only thing that came out.

“Has he said anything to you, Roman? Anything at all?” Dean asked, looking intensely at Roman to see if he noticed his fibbing face.

“No” Roman replied honestly, because he hadn’t. He only caught him staring a few times.  

“After everything he did to you and now he wants your forgiveness? And then R’s response is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read. I mean, she’s a brilliant writer but come on-” Dean trailed off, talking to himself more than to Roman.

Roman didn’t reply, he stayed quiet, eyeing the letter as he thought about different things. He wanted to be angry the way Dean obviously was but he couldn’t find it within himself to be angry anymore. Since he read the letter the first time he had calmed down since then, he had evaluated the reasoning behind Kurt asking for forgiveness.

Roman wasn’t angry anymore. He didn’t plan on becoming best friends forever with Kurt, he just didn’t feel any form of resentment for him either. The only thing on Roman’s mind was Dean.

“Dean-” Roman finally said.

“What?”

“I’m not mad at him anymore.” Roman scanned Dean’s face, looking for anger or something to acknowledge what he had just said but his face was blank.

“Oh.” It was Dean’s turn to remain speechless.

There was silence for what seemed like an eternity but then Dean said, “he put you through hell, Roman.”

“I know-” Roman replied, “but I’m not angry anymore. I’m not anything anymore. I don’t have any feelings for what happened.”

“So, you’re okay, then? You’re not upset, or mad, or anything?” Dean asked. Roman only replied with a shrug of his shoulders and Dean took him in for a hug. A deep embrace.

After the bell rang, Dean and Roman pulled away, each of them giving one another a peck of the lips before going off to their first class. Aside from the staring of their classmates, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t until Roman had class with Kurt that things had changed from their natural routine. Roman avoided eye contact as he took his seat, checking his email to find a new one from Shay. He was about to open it when he felt a body hover over him.

“Reigns-” a familiar but unfriendly voice said. Roman turned to see Kurt Hale walking to sit in front of him, face to face as Kurt seemed to debate on what to say.

There room went quiet, the loud noise coming from the other students, soon died out as they all stared in his and Kurt’s direction.

“Hale” Roman replied.

“Did- did you read Dear R’s advice column today?” Kurt asked, unsure of himself, like he had meant to start off the conversation with something else.

“I did” Roman said with confidence.

“Oh, um, okay. Well, I wanted to- I realize that writing an apology wasn’t as sincere as asking for an apology in person but-” Roman watched as Kurt stumbled over his words.

“I forgive you” Roman said. He wasn’t getting any form of gratification watching Kurt trip over his words, feeling the rest of the class judge him as he asked for forgiveness.

“You- you do?” Kurt seemed genuinely surprised.

“Yes.”

There were no more words exchanged because Mr. Lester had walked in asking for their final papers to be turned in. Kurt nodded once as a sign of agreement and Roman reflected his actions, turning to focus on Mr. Lester when Kurt walked off to his desk.

During lunch the confrontation that Roman and Kurt had was already taking over the original topic from that morning. Roman walked over to the lunch table to see Dean and all his friends eyeing him with eagerness to know what had happened.

“So?” Dean asked about what had happened during Roman and Kurt’s conversation.

“Kurt asked me for forgiveness and I gave it to him. I just- I want to start fresh, forget about what happened last year and move on.”

“Ye got a big heart mate” Sami noted.

Roman gave Sami a grin, shaking his head, “Kurt took a leap of faith and I respect that. He didn’t know how I would react or what I would say but he did it anyway. Plus, I realized something. When I read the letter, I realized that I had been bitter. But it wasn’t because of what Kurt did, it was because of what I didn’t do.”

“Huh?” Seth asked, confused about what Roman was talking about.

“What do you mean, Roman?” Dean asked. Leap of faith, why did that sound so familiar to him?

“Well, I wasn’t angry because of what Kurt did, although, I guess I had been at the beginning but as time went on I started pushing all of you away. Dean, babe, especially you. You were there for me even when I didn’t deserve it. I lashed out on you before and it was honestly because all I wanted was to hold you. I want to be what we are today but at the time I didn’t think it was possible” Roman explained, the best way he could.

Dean smiled, kissing Roman’s cheek as they’re friends mockingly awed at their mushiness. The necklace he had given Roman was dangling off his neck. It made him even happier to see it, knowing that it was the first step to getting where they were.

That day was a little distracting to Dean. He had showed up to baseball practice but couldn’t focus on it, the words Roman had spoken at lunch had been in his mind all day. Dean was happy he had Roman. Things had turned out well for them. It might have not been long but they were going strong and he couldn’t be happier. He was glad he had taken _R_ ’s advice and took his… _leap of faith_.

Dean got home and opened his closet to pull out a folder that had the letters he had sent and received from _R_. He scanned through them and found the letter that he had received from _R_ , telling him to take a leap of faith. Was that a common phrase that people used? Dean had certainly never heard Roman say it before.

“Maybe he heard it on the column and it stuck to his mind” Dean tried to reason. That had to be the only explanation, right?

Dean’s phone buzzed, a text message from Roman.

‘ _Hey babe, want to do movie night? Mom isn’t home ;)_ ‘

Dean shook his thoughts and smiled down at the text, ‘ _yeah. I’ll be right over._ ’

They watched a comedy, or at least tried to, each of them kissing one another as they touched each other’s bodies. Dean running his hands down Roman’s arms. Roman creating circles on Dean’s thighs as he teased him, rubbing up against his groin.

These moments happened a lot since their rainy date. Soft moans, deep kissing, heavy breathing. Despite all that, it never went further than a blow job. Neither of them knew what they were waiting for but they didn’t think it was the right time. They had the rest of their lives, even though they were young they knew they were meant for each other.

On Wednesday, Roman read through his email, looking over the new letters he had received.

‘ _Dear R,_

_My best friend and I got in a big fight because she thinks I slept with her boyfriend but I didn’t. It was her sister but I’m not sure how to tell her that without hurting her. PLEASE HELP!_

_Sincerely,_

_Best friend’s keeper’_

Roman smiled down at the emails… because Dear R had changed his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts?


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long since I last updated but good news, I've got the writing bug again and I'm back! I really hope everyone is still with me but it's totally understandable if you aren't. 
> 
> my ambreigns heart needs some love, since Dean is still out on injury.

Chapter 12:

_The homecoming game was on Saturday and Mrs. Castro had asked Dean to be a part of the homecoming committee._

_“Do you think you could get the baseball team to help out too?” she had asked._

_A majority of the committee that oversaw making decorations for the homecoming game had gotten the flu a week before and she was desperate, practically begging for his help. Dean agreed._

_“I’ll get them to help” Dean replied with a smile._

_It wasn’t as if they had anything better going on since baseball season was ending. Besides, football was always hyped up the most. And to add to his motivation, his boyfriend was a star player so he wanted things to look great so that the other team could see how much school spirit their high school had to offer._

He was in the gym, along with the rest of the baseball players, making posters to decorate the football field when he heard Roman’s voice. Dean turned around, hoping to see Roman walking over to him but noticed him walk into one of the offices with Shay.

Shay was a pretty red head with ambitions that could make the president look weak and even though she had made it clear her focus had moved on from Roman, Dean didn’t believe it. Freshmen year Shay was all over Roman, constantly trying to grab his attention and even though Dean did his best to hide it, he would grow jealous when she saw Roman and Shay talking, just like they were now… except the office door was being closed.

_He’s gay. We’re literally in a relationship right now, no way there is anything going on_ , Dean thought to himself. And still the thought lingered. The more they remained behind closed doors the more Dean wondered what was going on. _Fuck it_ , Dean thought as he got up from the gym floor and walked over to the closed office.

“Coach we need more-” Dean pretended to say, cutting himself off when he noticed Shay sitting on the desk, Roman hovering over her, staring at the computer screen.

Roman’s eyes grew wide, grabbing the mouse on the desk and clicking it a few times. “Dean. Hey babe, what are you doing here?”

Dean suspiciously eyed them, watching as Roman walked over to him, “I’m working on the posters for Saturday. What are you two doing?”

He watched as Roman hesitated to come up with a reply but tried his best not to jump to any conclusions.

“Shay needed help with Lester’s assignment, she wanted me to look over it before she turned it in” Roman replied.

As if the smirk on Shay’s face wasn’t enough to convince Dean that Roman was lying, he knew his best friend, he knew the way Roman’s shoulders slouched when he was lying.

“Roman” Dean began, “stop lying.”

“Babe, I’m not lying” Roman replied, grabbing Dean’s hand, rubbing circles on it.

“There’s really no need for you to be so defensive, Dean. Just like Roman said, he was revising my essay. You know how, as you used to say, anal I am about my grades” Shay added with a sassy tone.

Dean snorted, “your grades aren’t the only thing you’re anal about.” Shay’s mouth dropped open.

“Babe, c’mon” Roman said, as he grabbed him to walk out of the office and back into the open gym.

“I can’t stand her” Dean said.

“You sound jealous” Roman joked, a smirk pursing across his lips.

“Do I have a reason to be?” Dean quickly asked. Roman seemed taken back by his response but shook his head, “of course not. I love you and only you, even if I was into girls, you know better than anyone, Shay is far from my type.”

Dean smiled, playfully rolling his eyes. He kissed Roman back when he went in for a peck on the lips.

“Ambrose! Reigns! Cut it out!” they heard the coach shout as he entered the gym.

“I keep telling them, Coach!” Seth shouted, never taking his eyes off the poster he was coloring. He was entirely too focused on it but apparently not enough to make his daily comment.

After kissing and making up, Dean still felt an uneasiness about what had happened but he decided he trusted Roman and he was going to let it go. He went back to finishing the posters and Roman headed back to his class, agreeing to meet up at lunch.

\--

By the time lunch came around, Roman had committed himself to being more careful about when he met up with Shay. Miss Lane had told him that he and Shay would be working on getting the advice column online. Apparently, the school was cutting down on somethings and the advice column was the first one to come up. Unless they stopped wasting money on paper and ink each week, the column would be shut down. Shay had addressed the idea about online advice and Miss Lane thought it was a great idea. Roman did too, he figured it would be more efficient that way, getting responses to advice seekers a lot faster.

“Liv said that her and the cheerleaders are throwing a party after the game on Saturday, to congratulate us on the win, who’s in?” Baron asked.

“What makes you so sure you’ll win?” Seth asked.

“Way ‘t crush sum one’s confidence mate” Sami stated. Seth rolled his eyes.

“Did someone ram it in your ass too hard?” Dean playfully asked.

“I don’t take it up the ass like you, Ambrose” Seth said with a bit of a temper.

“Whoa, hey, cool it, man” Roman quickly said, coming to his boyfriend’s defense.

“Fuck off” Seth seemed angrier now.

Roman got up from his seat, the chair falling behind him, some of the cafeteria staring in their direction, “what the fuck is your problem?” Dean got up as soon as Seth did, an altercation waiting to happen. Dean got in between them, placing his hands-on Roman’s chest, telling him to let it go because Dean knew that the consequences for a fight would be a lot more damaging to Roman than they would be to Seth.

“Calm down, ye?” Finn said, trying to wave off any attention they had gotten from the rest of the lunchroom.

They all sat back down but there was tension in the air the entire time they sat eating their lunch. No one had processed what had just happened but everyone thought it was best to avoid any more conflict.

\--

“We should stay out here” Dean said, putting his hands under his head, watching the night sky fill with shining stars.

Roman nodded, “I’m down. I think I got some blankets in the trunk of my car.”

They stared up at the sky, trying to make things out of the stars. Dean kept saying the big dipper was shaped like a penis and even though Roman explained the unlikeliness of it all, he played along. An hour turned to two, before they knew it the lights surrounded the park and had been turned off and Roman went to grab the blankets from his car.

“Babe,” Roman started, when Dean hummed in response, he continued, “do you trust me?”

“Of course,” Dean replied instantly. “Why do you ask?”

“Today, in the gym… with Shay. You know I’d never-” Dean nodded, cutting Roman off.

“I know. I just- I got jealous. I remembered freshmen year when she was all over you, even then I was jealous, I just could never really say anything.”

Roman turned to face Dean, Dean continuing to stare up at the nights sky, it was pitch black outside but Dean wasn’t taking any chances with Roman seeing how red in the face he was. Roman touched Dean’s face, turning it to face him. They were looking straight into each other’s eyes, Roman softly placing a kiss on Dean’s lips, whispering, “I’m yours, only yours.”

Dean smiled sheepishly, kissing Roman back a lot harder, a moment later crawling on top of Roman, not breaking the kiss.

“Mine” Dean whispered into Roman’s ear.

Dean slightly grinding on Roman and a soft moaning escaping each of their lips as Dean bit down softly on his lovers bottom lip, Dean whispering again, “mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always feedback is always welcome and if you're feeling generous leave a kudos, that shows me you care about this story. <3 Thank you!


	13. Chapter 13

The more Dean grinded on Roman, the harder they were each getting. The kissing turned a little sloppy, the urge to do more quickly setting in. Dean kissed down Roman’s cheek, down his neck, and lifting his t-shirt to set a trail of kisses down his stomach towards his jeans.

“Dean” Roman whispered in a hitched breath as Dean started to unzip his pants, “someone might see us.”

“Shh” Dean replied, lowering Roman’s jeans low enough to get access to his boyfriend’s dick. Roman was already hard, leaking precum, hoping to give Dean a taste. Dean teased a little, touching through the soft fabric of Roman’s briefs but those quickly got removed.

“Dea-” Roman tried to say again but was interrupted by Dean’s tongue, licking the head of his dick, soft but with urgency. They both moaned, Dean taking in as much as he could before releasing with a pop and continuing the process over and over until Roman was begging to come to his release.

As Dean hit the back of his throat with Roman’s dick, he heard Roman say he was going to come undone but Dean continued anyway, looking up at Roman as he came to his release. Roman’s hair was no longer combed into a nice cut, it was messy and he was panting like he had run a marathon. Dean smiled, loving the idea that he was responsible for the way Roman looked.

“Fuck” Roman let out. Dean cuddling next to Roman as he watched Roman’s orgasm come down. Roman turned to face Dean, kissing his chin, the stubble setting in. Roman slid his hand down and inside Dean’s unbuckled jeans, slowly but firmly stroking up and down on Dean’s hard member. It didn’t last long, watching Roman come undone had Dean coming to his release moments later.

The brightness of the stars was the only light coming down on them and before they knew it, they were asleep, Dean on Roman’s chest, hearing the beat of his heart.

\--

Within a blink of an eye, it was Friday, the homecoming game approaching fast. Roman had agreed to help Dean set up the banners and decorations for the game on Saturday. When the last bell rang, he headed over to Mrs. Castro’s classroom to help.

“We need yer big arms” Finn said as soon as Roman walked in, Roman had convinced the entire football team to help when Dean told them they were shorthanded.

Roman grabbed a big box from the ground and followed Finn to the football field.

“Rollins in a bit of a spiral, eh?” Finn said as they walked. Roman knew Seth had been on edge the last few weeks, he was snapping at everyone for anything minor and no one knew why.

“Yeah, I tried talking to him yesterday and he just brushed me off” Roman replied. Seth had always been a little hard to talk to, when he wanted to be open he was a chatterbox but when he didn’t, no one would ever get anything out of him. “I’ll ask Dean to talk to him.”

“Ye really tink that’s a good idea?” Finn looked concerned, “last time they talked, Seth couldn’t bite his tongue.”

“He’s just hot about something, it’ll die down” Roman explained, but the warning lingered.

When they got to the football field, Roman walked over to Dean, asking him where everything needed to be and after a few hours, the homecoming decorations were done. Baron suggested they head over to the pizza parlor for food.

“Babe, maybe you should talk to Seth, he’s been oversensitive lately” Roman said, after they had been at the parlor for an hour and Seth was shouting at the game he was playing.

“I did, I think he’s exact words were _fuck off_ ” Dean replied. Roman sighed, but dropped the conversation.

\--

Later that night, Roman was finishing up his homework when he got an email from Shay.

_The advice column is online, a prototype, a few letters have been uploaded, please get to them as soon as possible, in case I need to make any new additions before we launch it next week._

_Shay_

 

Roman saved his homework and went to the advice column on the school’s newspaper page, signing in with his login information.

He read through the first letter,

_Dear R,_

_My parents are getting a divorce. My dad’s been sleeping with the lady down the street and now my mom wants to move back to her hometown, which means I have to go with her. I’m going to have to leave the only place I’ve ever known, my last year in high school. Even worse, I have to leave all my friends, I’ve known some of them since elementary, and the only way that I think it would hurt less is to push them all away. But it’s not easy, they keep asking me what’s wrong and I’m giving them snarky remarks, insulting them and I just want to scream that I don’t want to leave but I don’t have a choice… I don’t know what to do… help?_

_Sincerely,_

_The Soon-to-be New Kid_

This letter hit Roman close to home, he knew something about divorce. His parents had decided to call it quits long before Roman had come out but Roman opening up about his sexuality was the last straw in his mind. His dad walked away but eventually got around to calling Roman just to see how he was doing. Their relationship was getting back on track, mostly because Roman knew deep down that his coming out story had nothing to do with the divorce, even though sometimes he felt like it had.

_Dear the Soon-To-be-New-Kid,_

_It might feel like pushing away the people that you care about, such as your friends, is easier than saying goodbye but if they continue to ask you what is wrong, it sounds like they are friends you can depend on. When my parents divorced my friends were my rocks, they continuous checked up on me and made sure that I was taking care of myself even when I tried to push them away. So, my best advice to you is to confide in them, tell them what’s going on and even though saying goodbye is hard, it will be easier than leaving, without saying it because I promise you that you will regret it._

_Best of luck,_

_R_

When Roman hit the _reply_ button it automatically sent the response to the writer.

_Nice_ , Roman thought to himself.

After responding to the last few letters, he closed his computer, picking up his phone to call Dean before calling it a night.

\--

Apparently, Shay had set the program to instantly reply to a live audience so by Saturday night’s game, everyone that had sent in a letter had received their response. It was efficient and by the time Roman had made it to the football field to start the most important game of the season, he had found out that Seth was Soon-To-Be-New-Kid.

 “ _Geez Seth, I’m sorry.” Roman had said to hearing the news._

_“I thought I’d tell you first, since you’ve been through it. It sucks man, I’m gonna miss you, the other guys-” Seth replied._

_Roman hugged Seth, tightly, “no matter what bro, I’ll be here for you. We all will.”_

_“Thanks, Roman. And listen, about the way I’ve been acting I’m really sorry. This shit isn’t your guys fault, the way I acted with Dean too, that was messed up.” Seth explained._

_Roman pulled away, putting a comforting hand on Seth’s shoulders, “you don’t have to apologize to me. I get it. I’ve been there.”_

 

Roman tossed the football towards Breeze, another teammate, as he turned to see Seth talking to the rest of the guys near the fence. He watched as Dean hugged Seth, trying to console him the best way he could. Finn must’ve said something that peaked Seth’s interest because after Finn hugged Seth, a wide smile formed on his face.

Roman watched as Finn jogged onto the football field, joining Roman in his warm-up.

“What happened?” Roman asked.

“Seth said he told yu” Finn replied.

“He did but just now- Seth’s face lit up, what did you say?” Roman asked, catching the football that had just been thrown his way.

“Oh, I told um that my mum said he could stay wit’ us till the end of the school year if his mum moves back to Iowa before den” Finn replied.

Roman smiled, “that’s good.”

A moment later, the Coach was shouting at everyone to huddle up, for a pep talk before the game. Roman turned towards the bleachers, seeing Dean smiling wide back at him. Dean looked entirely too perfect with a jersey that had Roman’s number on it, his baseball cap on backwards and his face painted with the school colors.

_I love you_ , Roman mouthed at him, knowing that Dean couldn’t see him.


	14. Chapter 14

After plenty of back and forth throughout the game, they won. 10 – 8.

Dean had run down the bleachers and onto the field, Coach Noah didn’t even bother to stop him knowing his efforts would go unsuccessful if he even tried. Besides, the team had just picked up a very large win, it was the time and place for celebration.

“How did I do?” Roman smiled, wiping sweat off his face.

Dean shrugged his shoulders, “meh. You were alright.” Roman smiled, shaking his head. Dean laughed, taking Roman in for a congratulatory hug. A soft kiss on the lips.

The opposing team’s defense tackle spewed something homophobic at them, grabbing their attention, along with the rest of the team. Dean rubbed at his collar bone, ready for a fight but Roman held Dean by the waist, kissing him hard and hungry. When Roman finally let go of the kiss, the guy had nothing more to say, he just bit his tongue and walked off. Dean smiled.

\--

Liv’s party had gotten out of hand quickly because they had something to celebrate. The music was loud, the beer was cold and the party had just started. Roman was grabbing a drink for Dean when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

“Congratulations on the win.”

“Thanks.” Roman smiled, trying to figure out who the girl in front of him was. She looked familiar, but something was off, there was something different about her that wouldn’t let him remember who she was.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” She asked, a little disappointed from what Roman could tell but she was trying to hide it. “I’m really sorry I don’t.” She smiled softly, “too young to be a mother. It’s me, Tamara. I wrote to you about my pregnancy in your advice column.” Roman’s eyes widen, he looked around to see if anyone had heard but the music seemed to be too loud for anyone to hear anything. He relaxed slightly, “oh yeah, hi, wow. You look great. How have you been?”

“I’ve been really good actually. I’ve been taking online classes so that I can get my diploma and I’m working too, taking care of my son. He’s one now, can you believe it?” Tamara sounded excited, her life seemed to have turn out well since she wrote into the Dear R advice column. “That’s great to hear. I’m glad things worked out for you.”

“I thought you got lost” Dean joked as he popped up beside Roman. “Oh hi, who is – Tamara? Hey, long time no see.” Dean said, noticing her standing there. “I see you two are still friends.” “Boyfriends, actually.” Dean corrected her with a proud smile. Roman bit the bottom of his lips nervously. “I always had a feeling you two had the hots for each other.” Dean grabbed Roman’s hand. Roman had apparently bit his lip too hard because he drew blood, the taste wiping off on his tongue. “We should get back to the others -” Dean had mentioned. Roman agreed, saying his goodbyes but before they could walk away Tamara stopped Roman.

“Oh hey, just out of curiosity are you still in charge of the advice column?” Roman froze. Dean’s expression was enough to make Tamara realize that she probably shouldn’t have asked.

“Wait, what?” Dean’s puzzled looked soon turned into something else. Hurt? Anger? Roman wasn’t sure.

“Oh god, I didn’t know – I’m sorry” Tamara added in the background but went unnoticed because Dean was solely focused on Roman.

“What did she mean by _in charge_ Roman?” Dean’s voice was steady, cold. Roman knew that voice only it had never been directed at him. “And don’t lie to me.” Even though the music was still going on in the background and no one had noticed what was going on Roman still felt like the room was closing in on him, as if everyone was staring daggers into his soul. That’s what Dean’s stare felt like. “I’m – I’m…” Roman felt as if his heart was going to break out of his chest. The gulp that went down his throat sounded deafening. He wanted to lie. He thought about lying, anything to save what he had with Dean, but he couldn’t lie. Not again. Not anymore. Not to Dean. So, in his mind, the next thing that came through his lips was going to destroy everything he had ever known. He was going to lose Dean. 

“I’m R.”

Softly spoken, almost embarrassed. Not because everyone would soon find out but because Dean had found out and he had found out from someone who wasn’t him.

The only thing Roman saw next was the look of betrayal in Dean’s eyes. He never even saw Dean’s fist coming to Roman’s face, all he felt was the impact. A strong right hook caught him right on his eye. Roman fell back, crashing into the table behind him. The loud crash made everyone turn to face them. Roman looked up to see Dean walk out of the room. The pain inside himself hurt worse than the punch he took to the face.

“Mate, ye alright? What da hell happened?” Finn asked, helping Roman get back up. Roman didn’t care about all the eyes looking at him now, he didn’t even look at Finn when he spoke, he just continued to look in the direction where Dean had disappeared.

“I broke his heart.”

 --

Dean sat alone in the darkness of his bedroom. After the anger he had felt at the party, his emotions died down to something he couldn’t explain. His heart felt like it was shattering, he couldn’t breathe. The buzzing of his cellphone was making everything worse. Dean tossed it across the room, oddly enough it didn’t break, but the battery popped out and the buzzing stopped.

Dean’s breathing got heavier, shallow. Everything that had happened with Roman since the moment the advice column got published started to make sense. His reluctance to talk about R, his visits to Miss Lane, the way Roman always seemed to know something before everyone else. _Leap of faith_. The way Roman knew about Dean’s feelings before Dean knew about Roman’s. _Leap of faith_. Roman had tricked him, he had manipulated their entire relationship. HE HAD BETRAYED HIM. The more Dean thought about it the more it made his blood boil. Roman was his best friend, his other half, and he had lied to him this entire time. The one person in the world that Dean trusted with his life just stabbed a knife in his back.

Dean did something he hadn’t done in a long time, something he thought he could no longer do.

_He started to cry_.


End file.
